Part I
"The Term Limit Solution." Industry Week. The Heritage Foundation, 17 May. 1993. Web. 1 Feb. 2011.
The article begins by addressing that the congress at the time of the article's publication was being pressured to reform their ways and one of the suggested ways was to enforce term limits. In the article, two former congressmen where interviewed with opposite opinions on the matter and explain why they are right. The article is very short, but it gives quick thoughts on the subject and how it would work or not work.
Coyne, James. "Term Limits Right Answer." USA Today. 6 Aug. 1992. Web. 1 Feb. 2011.
Coyne delivers a direct solution to the congressional corruption and unsatisfactory actions of the congress at the time. While this is an old publication, the topic is still discussed today when the subject of the people's approval of congress. He points the strategies of how congress use funds and "cheat" to get re-elected over and over again. This is a one sided publication that focuses on term limits as the easiest solution to congresses continual disappointing legislation.
Biskupic, Joan. "Congressional Term Limits Struck Down; Supreme Court's 5-4 Ruling Upsets Laws in 23 States." The Washington Post. 23 May. 1995. Web. 2 Feb. 2011
Joan Biskupic tells the story of how the debate on state imposed term limits on the national government was settled in the mid-90's. Most opponents of term limits cite the unconstitutionality of term limits on legislators in the national government. This article contains comments from the justices on the Supreme Court and why the ruled the way they did. In reading the quotes and reasoning of the people involved it should raise questions about the way the constitution is used to make solutions.
U.S. Term Limits, Inc. v. Thornton. ecasebrief.com or any other source
This is the basic outline of the federal case that temporarily silenced the movement to impose term limits on members of the national legislature. 23 states decided to pass laws making it so their state representatives at the national level would adhere to term limits. The Supreme Court ruled in a 5-4 vote that states could not put restrictions on members of the national government and that the right to do so was reserved for the people of the national as a whole and not individual states.
Part II
Chang, Jack. “Fiorina backs term limits for Congress.” The Sacramento Bee 21 Aug. 2010: EBSCOhost. Web. 20 Feb. 2011.
Republican U.S. Senate candidate for California in the 2010 election but was defeated by democratic candidate Barbara Boxer. In the article she states that she was elected she would support and push for self imposed term limits on members of the U.S. Congress. She points out that Boxer has been in Washington for 34 years. Fiorina goes on record of saying that if elected and re-elected she would not seek office for a third term regardless to whether or not term limits are in effect. This is just one example of the movement to set limits on Congress.
Myers, Jim. “Coburn pledges to support term limits.” Tulsa World 5 Oct. 2010: EBSCOhost. Web. 20 Feb. 2011.
This article asks several national delegates from the state of Arizona if they would be willing to sign a petition in support of term limits for the U.S. Congress. The main focus is on highly thought of U.S. Senator Tom Coburn. He says that he supports the idea of term limits. It points out that he has already kept his word concerning his time in the House of Representatives, leaving after three terms. He has pledged walk away from the senate in 2016 when his second term is over, regardless. There are other references of support by other Oklahoma representatives.
Mustain, Jim. “Cowan promises term limits.” Odessa American 8 Feb. 2010: EBSCOhost. Web. 21 Feb. 2011.
Al Cowan was a candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives from the 11th district of Texas. A business man in Austin who was adamant about term limits for members of the Congress. He faced Mike Conaway who was running for his fourth term in the House. He called upon the people to elect him if they wanted change in the way things are run. This is basically another example of people who are passionate about term limits in their campaigning.
“Our View: An argument for term limits.” Journalstandard.com. The Journal Standard. n.p. Web. 21 Feb. 2011.
This article would be a small scale experiment for the notion of term limits. The author uses the Illinois House of Representatives as the example. Illinois’s government and economy have been falling while the same man has been in power of the House of Representatives since 1983 with just two years of not being the speaker of the House when the Republicans took over in 1990. The author uses the slow downfall of the economy of Illinois under the control of the same representatives in the Illinois Congress disproving the experience and power are irrelevant.
N.A. “Sickness: Incumbency The cure: Term limits.” USA Today 1 Nov. 2006. Web. 22 Feb. 2011.
A transcription of a conversation between Cal Thomas, conservative columnist, and Bob Beckal, a liberal Democratic strategist. This mixes two ideas of politics but at the end they agree that term limits are a good way to start cleaning up Congress. This is important because it shows that the idea of term limits is not just something that one political party is in favor of, but rather something the people who want reform are in favor of.
Part III
Newton-Small, Jay. “Term Limits: No Magic Pill for Washington’s Woes.” TIME. 23 Feb. 2010. Web. 15 Mar. 2011.
This publication is an argument against term limits for Congress. The author realizes that there were some founding fathers that wanted term limits on Congress. He also realizes that there are some issues that could be fixed by term limits but he also says that there will be greater problems. He takes the reader through the history of America and why the original congressmen didn’t need term limits. It wasn’t good pay, it wasn’t a good job, and they had other things to be concerned with like their farms and other businesses. Also, as times have changed so have the rules of the political game and things like term limits aren’t the answer. He uses the state of California and its decision to go to term limits as an example for his point that term limits is not a magic pill.
Hession, Gregory. “Term Limits- Still a Bad Idea.” New American. 25 May. 2010. Web. 15 May. 2011.
Hession’s argument concerning term limits is the age old argument that term limits takes away the rights of the people to elect whoever they want. He argues that if people of one state keep getting bad representatives there is no reason that the seasoned representatives who know how the game is Washington D.C. works from other states should be forced to find a new person who might not be as good. He cites the late senators Byrd and Kennedy as examples of representatives that the people of their respected states obviously wanted.
Crane, Edward H. “Term Limits and the Need for a Citizen Legislature.” CATO. Web. 18 Mar. 2011.
The paper from CATO.org suggests the reasons why term limits are now needed for Congress to be returned to the people and why the shortest possible term limits are the best way to get the best results. Crane uses as study done in 1996 on the results of the laws on term limits passed in 1990 in the state of California. He then says how and why these different results happened through the rest of the paper. Such results are the rise in the number of women representatives, the decline of uncontested races, and the most important the decline in the winning margin for incumbents.
Part IV
May, Caroline. “Term Limits for Congress?” The Daily Caller 15 Apr. 2011: Web. 19 Apr. 2011.
This article is a brief release about an amendment introduced by Jim DeMint that would apply term limits to members of Congress (3 terms for the House of Representatives and 2 terms for the Senate). He is followed by 10 senators. This can be very interesting news because readers if it goes to the House readers could compare the names of the Congressmen who pledged to vote for legislation to see if they really did vote for the term limits bill.
Gleason, Kevin “Letter, 4/17: Term Limits for Congress.” Journalstar.com. 16 Apr. 2011: Web. 19 Apr. 2011.
This is a letter to the editor at the Journal Star. The author, Gleason, is obviously upset with what is going on in Congress. He is basically appealing to other citizens who are upset by how Congress is acting with his tax money. His argument is purely emotional but it does give the reader insight to the feeling of real people who are faced with difficulties every day and that this person is in favor on putting term limits on Congress. This is just another person's opinion that strengthens the need for term limits.
Brush, James. “We need term limits, campaign finance reform.” Rochester Business Journal. 25 Mar. 2011. Web. 19 Apr. 2011.
The article is an opinion about why term limits are needed. The author sights that not only do term limits need to be passed and made into law but also massive campaign reforms. The article argues that term limits would relieve legislators from having to worry about their next election. Brush compliments the president’s deficit reduction team’s ideas but he points out that these people need to pass the legislation through Congress. The author also gives his opinion on what needs to be done to cut spending and get the United States budget back on track.
Goldman, Norman. “Update the Constitution.” Huffington Post. 18 Apr. 2011. Web. 19 Apr. 2011
While this does not have anything to do with term limits on Congress, it does stress a point that is important. The author argues that people, especially Tea Party members, think that the constitution was designed to be an end all document and solution for everything for all time in America. Goldman says that there definitely needs to be updates to the Constitution so that the government can continue to function. He does, however, stress term limits for federal judges. I find it strange that he would stress the judges and not the final branch of government running free without term limits. But the message is about the need to update the Constitution.
